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carcasses of endangered species and lamented castration to women were not in. |
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Also, Calvin Hazzard did not cut a professorial image. He was broad and hard, handsome in a thuggy kind of way, with a head full of dark ringlets and an open manner. His dress was trendynot an elbow patch or Harris tweed in his wardrobe. As Terry said, he looked more like a health-club trainer who put on a sport coat and tie to attend the opening of a new spa. |
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Calvin was himself surprised by so kingly an offer, but what the hell! Carpe the diem while you can. |
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"You know, of course," Cobb continued, "there's no way I can come remotely close with a counteroffer." |
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Calvin slapped his chest. "I'm shocked." |
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"Bullshit, but I wish I could," he said. "Was this something you've been working on for a while? I mean, I didn't see it advertised in the job bulletins." |
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"It wasn't. They came after me, as difficult as that might be to accept." |
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"Hell, I didn't mean it that way." |
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"Yes, you did. How did just-plain Calvin Hazzard pull down such a deal? I'm not sure, but I'm taking it." Then he added, "The idyllic setting notwithstanding, their remoteness is not a draw, I'm told. Nor the fact that they graduate physicists and engineers." He explained it the way Priest had: that until recently the English department was just a service shopa few nuts-and-bolts comp and lit courses. Then suddenly the board of directors decided that scientists and engineers needed to be humanized. "So they pumped in some dough to beef up the curriculum and recruit staff." |
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Charlie said, "You're a goddamn peace dividend." |
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"Me and the Hubble telescope." |
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"So, for a hundred grand you're going to teach Hemingway to engineers?" |
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"For a hundred grand I'd teach Hemingway to chipmunks." |
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Cobb made a snorty laugh. "They must have one hefty endowment." |
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"Priest said something about an anonymous benefactor with a love of literature and deep pockets." |
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